Whyte, Just & Moore Wooden Boat Festival of Geelong 2010

10:06 AM Mon 1 Mar 2010 GMT

'Couta Boat racing fleet' Greg Maunder &copy Click Here to view large photo

Australia's maritime heritage will be on display on Corio Bay and at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club during the Labour day weekend holiday of sixth and seventh of March, in a sign of the growing popularity of this event.

Plenty of activity on shore as well as on the water means that this year's Festival will be bigger and better than ever. The program includes the crowd pleasing Grand Parade of boats, the classic yacht passage race from Melbourne, races in the Couta Boat State titles which includes the passage race from Portarlington, Heron class races and harbour races on Corio Bay.

All this will be complimented by rope making and boat building displays featuring some of Australia's prominent shipwrights, a display of the Royal Geelong Yacht Club's history, a BBQ and sausage sizzle and the Grand Parade of boats and Cavalcade of Sail adding flavour to a weekend of seagoing delights!

Boats will begin arriving by road and sea from 9am on Saturday with the majority docking mid to late afternoon. Sunday will be the big day out for everyone with all displays, exhibitions and displays open to all from 9am.

One of the most interesting displays will be the oldest yacht in Australia, the 45' Huon Pine Gaff Cutter, 'Zephyr'. Built at Port Adelaide in 1873 she won 3 of her first 15 races and was once owned by the Attorney General of S.A. The 'Zephyr' will be one of the many highlights of this year's festival.

Add the tall ship, the brigantine 'One & All' from South Australia, the topsail schooner 'Enterprize', both taking passengers for bay trips, the most famous classic keel boat, 'Sayonara' of 1897 and the 1929 'Windward II' and it's a smorgasbord of floating history!. Another beautifully restored boat is the 'Zoe Clair', a 38 ft Commuter, built in 1930 and was once used along the east coast of America for 'U' Boat sighting!

Another 'old timer' to catch the fancy is the Couta Boat 'Fancy' that was built in the 1920s. An overall length of 24 ft. 3 in. and was built to win the Williamstown to Portarlington race, which she did!

Not all the displays are 'big boats'. Looking like a large dinghy, the little steam driven 'Firefly 2' is only16 ft long and has a power unit almost 100 years old!

On shore, boat builders will demonstrate their skills, rope making machinery will buzz and demonstrations of all sorts of nautically oriented maintenance and equipment will take place. Add some food and refreshment and the whole family will enjoy their visit to the waterfront.

These are just a few of the highlights of the impressive display of craftsmanship, history and tradition that will be on display at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club over the weekend of the sixth and seventh. of March. Everyone is welcome and entry is free! So why 'wooden' you visit the Wooden Boat Festival?

Event site: www.rgyc.com.au

by Bob Appleton

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Whyte, Just & Moore Wooden Boat Festival of Geelong 2010

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